Gible wants to be a trainer

Chapter 171 When you're traveling, privileges are something you give yourself.

The day, filled with laughter and joy, came to an end.

As the event was drawing to a close, Principal Kaji, who had disappeared for some time, reappeared.

Seeing that Gadriya and Lu Sha were standing alone on the outside, while Karuni was still surrounded and laughing with a group of children, he walked over with a slightly hesitant expression.

His conflicted expression practically screamed "I'm in trouble" all over his face.

Needless to say, Cattleya's telepathy was always active.

"Is there something you need?"

Cattleya glanced at him indifferently.

She hates extra trouble, and if today could end here, it would be a perfect day.

Unless this trouble makes today's conclusion more valuable and meaningful.

"Well... there is something I'd like to trouble you with..."

Principal Kaji's greasy, middle-aged face now showed a hint of restraint and unease.

Hey, a side quest has come knocking?

Lu Sha looked over with great interest, and also glanced at Karuni in the distance.

Without a doubt, it must be Karuni, the true protagonist, who triggered the plot.

After all, logically speaking, no one would ask him and the young lady, a villainous duo, for help. If there were to be any cooperation, it should be Team Magma or Team Aqua coming to them.

They had never had a similar experience during their long journeys through Sinnoh.

But every time I'm with these main characters, trouble is bound to come knocking.

Tsk, as expected of the main characters.

"Speak."

Gadriya understood the interest in Lu Sha's eyes and casually asked a question.

On the other hand, as long as it's not a big problem, she wouldn't mind lending a hand.

"That's right, you've all met Lily."

Principal Kaji looked at Lily, a little girl with a happy smile, who was interacting with Karuni: "Her parents have been missing for three days. She's been staying at the school recently, and we've been lying to her that her parents left her here, but if we keep hiding this, it'll be exposed sooner or later."

Karuni, standing some distance away, subtly shifted her expression, clearly having also caught the conversation taking place.

Parents missing?

Lu Sha's expression turned strange after hearing this.

Normally, shouldn't the incidents triggered by the school be children going missing?

How come when it comes to them, only children are left?

And if an adult goes missing, shouldn't the first reaction be to call the police or Miss Officer Jenny?

Is the principal serious about asking young ladies and other trainers who are not even adults to help?

Lu Sha and Gadriya exchanged a glance, the latter then turning to Principal Kagi: "Wasn't this reported to the police?"

"We called the police three days ago when no one came to pick up Lily. But until now, Officer Jenny hasn't given us any substantial response. It was Mr. Michael's recommendation that led me to ask you for help," Principal Kagi said with a wry smile.

He was telling the truth.

Although most of the students at this school come from middle-class families, the school itself does not have a particularly strong background.

In addition, due to the recent Academy Cup, spectators from all over the world have flocked to Kanaz City.

Maintaining order requires a lot of police force, and given the diverse and sometimes chaotic nature of the city, it's impossible to find anything about this kind of thing within a few days.

It's even more unrealistic to let the school investigate on its own. Although Principal Kagi was a Gym Leader in his youth, he has long since become less active in battles.

Moreover, some things cannot be solved by force alone.

He hadn't expected to be able to persuade Cattleya and the others, but since he had finally managed to contact Mikoli, he took the opportunity to bring it up.

Although Mikuri agreed to help, he was too busy as the organizer of the Academy Cup, so he suggested that Mikuri ask Gadriya and Karuni for help.

Although he didn't know if it would work, Principal Kagi had no choice but to try anything as a last resort.

After hearing this explanation, Lu Sha was completely speechless.

Good grief, so after all that shifting of blame, they've ended up getting themselves into trouble?

If he didn't give Mikoli more work, shouldn't Mikoli be responsible for this?

This is clearly the kind of work the local main character should be doing.

"Could I ask about Lily's family situation specifically?"

Karuni had settled the children and was now walking quickly over.

As soon as she opened her mouth, she got straight to the point, and everyone present understood that this true protagonist, bursting with a sense of justice, had taken on this task.

"I don't know the specifics, I only know that Lily's parents are both researchers working at Kanaz University, but I don't know their specific research topics."

Principal Kaji knew nothing about the matter.

Early childhood education schools typically do not conduct in-depth background checks on parents; as long as tuition is paid on time, providing basic information is sufficient.

"You should have a home address, right? Just give us the address," Cattleya said softly.

Her unspoken message was clear.

She will also take care of this matter.

She wouldn't be so heartless as to sit idly by in the face of a missing person case that leads to the breakdown of a family.

"No problem! I'll send you the address right away!" Principal Kaji was overjoyed.

About ten minutes later, Lu Sha and his group appeared in front of a cozy detached house.

Although the population density in the Pokémon world is not low, most ordinary residents live in detached houses.

As for high-rise apartments, they are mostly concentrated in the city center or business district, and are generally rarely inhabited.

Compared to high-rise apartments, these detached houses with gardens are more suitable for families to live in, and also more suitable for Pokémon to live with.

"Isn't this place sealed off?"

Karuni surveyed her surroundings.

Based on her experience in filming movies and TV dramas, since a police report had been filed, the scene should have been cordoned off.

"Click! (It's just a regular missing person case, how could the scene be sealed off? She's only been missing for three days, it's probably just a temporary case, Miss Jun Sha might not have even been inside her house.)" Lu Sha shook her head speechlessly.

Reality isn't a movie; it doesn't take cases that seriously.

The scene of arriving at a clue location only to find it sealed off only exists in movies and TV dramas.

The reality is that there are at least tens of thousands of missing persons cases every year, especially in the Pokémon world where the danger level in the wild is extremely high.

During his and the young lady's trip to Sinnoh alone, they rescued more than just one or two missing persons along the way.

According to Lu Sha, in most cases, if a police report is filed more than 10 days later, or if multiple reports are filed during that period, Jun Sha will arrange for someone to come to the home to check.

If Lily's parents weren't both researchers, a disappearance of three days wouldn't normally be enough to warrant a case.

"I see... So what should we do now?"

Karuni felt her lack of experience exposed and laughed somewhat awkwardly.

This reminded her of when she chatted in the group, Lu Sha and her friends often discussed social hot topics, but she could never get a word in edgewise.

One reason is that she always felt the world wasn't as bad as they said.

Secondly, because her life consists of filming and training, she doesn't have many opinions to discuss.

Looking back now, she seems a bit shallow.

"Click! (Of course, let's go in and take a look!)"

Lu Sha said matter-of-factly and stepped forward.

Caldelia silently followed beside Lu Sha, and together they stepped through the garden gate that Lu Sha had casually pushed open.

"There's no one here. Does this count as trespassing?"

Karuni quickly followed, her tone somewhat uneasy.

Although she lacked experience, she knew that barging in without Officer Jenny wouldn't be a good idea.

No, that definitely won't work!

"Click! (So you're inexperienced!)"

Reaching the entrance, Lu Sha grinned mischievously and waved her phone in front of Karuni: "Click! (Look, this is the search warrant just issued by the Alliance. We are now the special agents in this missing persons case.)"

Cattleya was originally an investigator, so this was a perfect match for her profession.

"When did you apply?"

When Karune took a closer look, she realized it was indeed an official authorization from the League, and it even stated that all local police forces in Hoenn should cooperate with Cattleya's mobilization when this case was involved.

She clearly didn't see Lu Sha make a phone call, so how did this search warrant appear out of thin air?

"Click! (Daigo and Michael want us to do some manual labor, which will take up some of our training time, so we definitely have to give them some special compensation.)"

Lu Sha shrugged, looking completely at ease.

Before he even left the academy, he had already messaged Daigo and Michael.

When applying for the investigation order, Mikoli seemed a little embarrassed, as if he was apologizing for delaying their training.

But Lu Sha and Gadriya really didn't care.

If this were a typical protagonist, there probably wouldn't be many side quests before the Academy Cup ends.

Most of them become trainers too recently, encounter strong opponents in the Academy Cup, and then take advantage of the breaks in the competition to train, and then overcome all obstacles and finally dominate the Academy Cup.

But who can blame them? This time, they're playing the villain's role in the Academy Cup, not the protagonist's.

The villains like them, distracted by various things, and then losing to the protagonist due to their inattentiveness in the competition, is the kind of ending they deserve.

Although Lu Sha didn't think Daigo and the others could defeat the young lady.

According to what the young lady said after her battle with Du last night, she would be able to comprehend the domain if she received a few more stimulating events.

At this pace, Daigo and the others simply can't catch up.

What? His strength?

With at least a month to go until the finals, his relentless 24-hour effort, if not amazing, is enough to break through to the gym level.

Squeak!

As Lu Sha approached, the door slid open automatically under the control of telekinesis.

It must be said that superpowers are not only life companions, but also powerful tools for sneaking into homes and picking locks.

Upon learning that a search warrant had been issued, Karuni no longer hesitated and followed along with curiosity and anticipation.

In fact, if it weren't for considering the feelings of Karuni, a decent person, Lu Sha wouldn't have bothered to apply for a search warrant.

Anyway, even if this kind of thing is exposed afterward, you can just go through the formalities, there's no need to be so serious about it.

Besides, the world is so big, Lu Sha can go wherever he wants.

Upon entering the house, one is greeted by a warm and inviting atmosphere.

The living room walls are covered with family photos of the three of them, as well as many childlike doodles.

The kitchen and dining area also exude a lively atmosphere, except...

"What is this smell? It smells awful..."

Karuni covered her mouth and nose, her brows furrowed as she looked towards the kitchen.

"Click! (I left home halfway through cooking, and the leftovers have been sitting for three days. That's why they smell sour and rancid.)"

Lu Sha remained unfazed, calmly walked to the stove, and lifted the iron pot lid with a paw.

In an instant, a pungent, rotten curry smell swept through the entire room.

"Yue~!"

Caught off guard, Karune and Gardevoir simultaneously gagged.

"Click! (Wait, doesn't your Gardevoir have its sense of smell shut down?)"

Lu Sha turned his head speechlessly, looking at Karuni who was about to be killed by the biological weapon.

Knowing that the homeowner had been missing for three days, how could they still breathe so carelessly? They must be incredibly reckless.

After a flurry of activity, Karune and Gardevoir finally managed to shut down their sense of smell.

"Oh...sorry, sorry! I forgot..."

Karuni blushed with embarrassment, feeling incredibly ashamed.

She had hoped to showcase the skills she had learned from making detective movies, but she ended up acting like a rookie soldier who was there to highlight the main character, rather than a protagonist.

"There were no signs of a struggle, nor any indication of forced entry. The homeowner turned off the stove and left on their own initiative," Cattleya concluded after looking around.

"Why couldn't it be that they were forced to leave by criminals? Or that they were hypnotized by a Psychic Pokémon and taken away in a way that looked like they left naturally?" Karen asked curiously.

She wasn't a counter-argumentative person; she was simply curious why Cattleya was so certain.

"Click! (The logic is very simple!)"

Lu Sha pointed to the pot of fermenting curry on the stove: "Click! (If you were a criminal, controlling this family and trying to fake their natural departure, would you still leave this pot of half-cooked curry? Was it specially prepared for Miss Officer Jenny to drink later when she came to investigate?)"

"Um...that makes sense!"

Karuni suddenly realized.

In the current weather, half-cooked curry is very likely to spoil.

If the perpetrators really wanted to stage the scene, they wouldn't have overlooked such an obvious clue.

Thinking of this, Karuni felt even more embarrassed.

She has acted in many detective films, and when reading the scripts, she always felt that the clues were obvious, and only a fool would not have thought of them.

But once they arrived at the scene, they realized there was just too much information to keep up with, and their brains simply couldn't process it all.

Cattleya opened her mouth, but seeing Karuni's excited "I understand" look, she decided to keep quiet in the end.

In fact, her method of judgment is more direct.

Even though three days have passed, any outsiders or Pokémon that forcibly break in will inevitably leave behind residual energy or physical traces.

She used her superpowers to scan the area carefully, and apart from the traces left by the family of three, there was nothing else unusual.

"Click! (Since they left voluntarily without leaving any explanation of where they went, that's quite interesting.)"

Lu Sha chuckled in amazement and strode toward the study.

"Lu Sha, where are you going?" Karuni asked instinctively.

"Click! (Of course, it's the study! As everyone knows, researchers' disappearances are mostly related to their research projects, and clues are almost always hidden in the study.)"

Lu Sha's casual voice came over, making Karuni blush even more, and she quickly followed.

However, as soon as she entered the study, she saw Lu Sha standing stiffly in front of the desk, as if struck by lightning.

"Have you found any important clues?"

Karuni leaned closer curiously and discovered a thick stack of research data spread out on the table. She instinctively read the title: "Record of the 241st Experiment with the Crimson Pearl...? The Crimson Pearl? What is this?"